Overstepping Boundaries
by AhmoseInarus
Summary: CCOAC Original Character Challenge: Whittier Paulson III, Assistant to the Director of the FBI, sees one Dr. Spencer Reid leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting one night... and brings it to the attention of one Section Chief Erin Strauss.


Overstepping Boundaries

Ahmose Inarus

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Criminal Minds, nor do I make any financial gain from writing this.

Written for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner Forum Original Character Challenge! I was assigned Spencer Reid with the Original Character, Whittier Paulson III - Assistant/Secretary to the Director of the FBI

Whittier Paulson III, Assistant to the Director of the FBI, was slightly annoyed that he had to go out to the store after work… but he had no coffee left at home and he would want the machine to have it ready for him when he woke. Fortunately, there was a little store on his way home. UNFORTUNATELY, it was right across the street from a local community center and tonight was the weekly Beltway Clean Cops Meeting. He snorted and shook his head as he eyed the sign and walked into the store. In his opinion, any cop that had developed an addiction to ANY thing should NOT be a member of law enforcement. It was a shame those things were anonymous.

As Whit left the store, it appeared that the meeting was letting out. He glared across the street at the cops with a condescending sneer. But then, he froze. His eyes widened. He KNEW that man. He wracked his brain for a moment. Yes! Dr. Spencer Reid! He was on that Hotchner man's team under Erin Strauss. Now THERE was a fine woman! If she knew that Dr. Reid was… Well, obviously she didn't, or he would no longer work for the Bureau. And he SHOULDN'T work for the Bureau if he was attending the Beltway Clean Cops meetings!

He shook his head and got into his car, flipping through his phone contacts. As he pulled away from the curb, he placed the phone to his ear.

"… Good evening, Chief Strauss… I'm well, thank you, and yourself? Good! Well… I just thought that I should let you know about a situation that I was just made aware of…"

Dr. Spencer Reid was finishing his second cup of coffee of the morning as he stepped off of the elevator and strode across the hall towards the glass doors leading into the BAU. It was a lovely morning, and he was in good spirits, and looking forward to getting through the stack of paperwork that had been piling up. As he approached his desk, he noticed it had grown overnight. Significantly. He quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Prentiss and Morgan, who were bent over their desks, feigning diligence.

Reid sighed, shook his head and said, "You two owe me." Morgan and Prentiss both stopped, looking up at him with innocent expressions, then grinned.

"You rock, Reid." Prentiss said, and Reid returned her smile, snagging the first folder on top of his pile.

"Agent Reid." The voice rang through the Bullpen, immediately making hairs stand on end.m Everyone looked up. Section Chief Erin Strauss stood in the doorway, staring at Reid. He blinked.

"Ma'am?" He asked, standing.

"My office. Now." She ordered, then turned and walked away.

"… Whoa. What did you do?" Morgan asked, eyes wide.

"I have NO idea." Reid admitted.

"She's feeling her authority today." Prentiss murmured, giving Reid a sympathetic look.

Reid sighed. "Well, may as well get this over with." And he headed to Strauss' office. He knocked on the door that was ajar and poked his head in. "You wanted to see me, ma'am?"

"Come in." She nodded, sitting behind her desk. And standing next to her, looking pleased, was Whittier Paulson III. "Sit down." She said, and Reid did as he was told.

"What can I do for you, ma'am?" Reid asked. She simply stared at him, and then, with a flash of triumph in her eyes, she slid a packet of paper across the desk towards him. Reid picked it up, and his stomach lurched.

"… Termination?" He gasped, feeling the color draining from his face. His eyes snapped up and he stared at her. "I… I don't understand… W-Why?"

"We at the Bureau do not tolerate our Agents hiding addiction, Agent Reid." Reid went from just pale, to white. "Mr. Paulson here witnessed you leaving a Narcotics meeting last night." Reid felt sick. He looked back and forth between them, feeling violated.

"What? But… I… those are Anonymous!"

"While the meeting is in session, yes." Strauss said with a nod. "But regardless, you have an addiction that you failed to report. And Agent Hotchner failed to report it as well." And she laid a hand on another pack of paper, identical to the one in Reid's hands. Reid felt his heart drop. She was firing him and Hotch both? No… he couldn't allow that!

"Of course he didn't report it." Reid blurted. "He didn't KNOW. No one did… except Gideon."

"Gideon." She repeated, blinking. "… He left years ago."

"It was after the Henkel case in Georgia." Reid confirmed with a nod. "I'd only been in the BAU for three years."

"You've been using that long?" Strauss demanded, fire in her eyes. But before Reid could answer, there was a knock on the door, and it opened to admit Mr. Paulson's boss, the Director of the FBI.

"There you are Whit, I was told you would be down here. Dr. Reid, how are you?" The man asked, and Reid just gave him a deer in the headlights look. The man blinked. "What's going on?" He asked, looking back and forth between Reid, Strauss and Whit Paulson. He walked over and plucked the papers from Reid's hands and looked at them. Then he frowned and looked up.

"What is this about?" He demanded.

"Director, your assistant called me last night to alert me to the fact the Agent Reid has been attending meetings for addictions." Strauss said. "As neither he, nor Agent Hotchner ever reported an addiction, I have no choice but to—"

"And why the hell would Dr. Reid need to report his addiction if he was dealing with it?" The Director asked. "Dr. Reid. You're clean?"

"Yes sir." Reid nodded.

"Will you be willing to take a drug test?"

"Yes sir." Reid nodded again.

"… Let me see it." The man asked, and held out his hand. Slowly, Reid reached into his pocket and drew out a small coin. He set it into the man's hand. The Director looked down at it, and smiled, nodding. "Well done, Spencer." He said, clapping the boy on the back. "You'll be getting your Five Year Medallion soon, am I correct?"

"Yessir." Reid nodded with a small smile.

"Excellent, excellent." The Director said, grinning. "Couldn't be more proud of you. You've been doing very well."

"Wait." Strauss blurted, and Whit was looking stunned, too. "You… knew?"

"Of course!" The Director grinned, and then pulled a Medallion out of his own pocket and held it up. "I'm his sponsor!" Strauss and Whit's jaws DROPPED. "He's a fine young man who had a rough patch in his life, but he fought back and rose above the odds spectacularly! He kicked his drug use and has been clean ever since! And when it gets hard, he goes to the meetings or calls me. But he's been calling me less and less, lately."

"I'm not craving as much anymore." Reid nodded.

"GOOD!" The Director boomed, and clapped Reid on the back again. "Really, Erin. Termination? Don't you think that's a bit… excessive?" And he tossed the papers for termination of employment back onto Strauss' desk. "How did you find out, anyway?"

No one answered. Whit seemed like he was trying to sink into the floor.

"… Mr. Paulson saw me leaving a meeting last night." Reid mumbled. The Director narrowed his eyes.

"… Whit? You were reporting an Agent for going to an ANONYMOUS meeting?"

"… I… uh…"

"Mr. Paulson, please return to your office. We will discuss this in private."

"… Yessir." And Whittier Paulson III scuttled away, his tail between his legs, wondering if the termination papers meant for Dr. Reid would end up in his hands today…

"You're a good Agent, Spencer." John said, smiling down fondly at the young man still sitting in the chair. "Go back to work." Reid smiled and nodded, and scampered from the room. "Thank you for your understanding, Erin." The Director said, giving Strauss a smile with a hidden warning. "You take care of the Agents under your authority. Their success reflects on you. And isn't it a good thing, for an Agent to have dealt with such a difficult addiction, and to have defeated it? Surely it is something for you to be proud of FOR him." And with another loaded smile, he left the office to go deal with his Assistant. Strauss sighed and swept a hand across her desk, the papers for Termination of Employment falling into the trash bin…

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